


Memories

by Dandy



Category: Free!
Genre: Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-16
Updated: 2015-03-16
Packaged: 2018-03-18 03:16:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3554027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dandy/pseuds/Dandy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, Rin likes to take the medals out and just… look at them.</p>
<p>He’s not vain about it - okay, maybe it is a little vain, but anyone would be if they had won gold medals - but he does like to revel in the accomplishment a little bit. It had been a journey, and this was the end result: a moment in time to look at his winnings and think about all the times along the way.</p>
<p>“They’re very beautiful, Rin.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Memories

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fic for Naka-kon 2015's Iron Fic contest and it won runner-up! (So basically 4th out of 35-ish fics.) I had a good time writing it and I'm glad the judges liked it, I hope you guys like it too!
> 
> The theme was "Reflection."

Sometimes, Rin likes to take the medals out and just… look at them.

He’s not  _vain_  about it - okay, maybe it  _is_ a little vain, but anyone would be if  _they_  had won gold medals - but he does like to revel in the accomplishment a little bit. It had been a journey, and this was the end result: a moment in time to look at his winnings and think about all the times along the way.

He was taking a moment like that when Rei walked in, a basket of laundry cradled between his arm and his side. At first, he didn’t notice the medals, started talking about how they’re out of fabric softener and eggs, so “there go my plans for dinner, but I think I might find enough to make a nice miso - didn’t you do the shopping last? How does a fifty-year-old man forget  _eggs_ -”

And then he saw the medals and stopped. He didn’t win them, but every one of them meant something to him, too.

He set the basket down, which was something he wouldn’t have done years ago, and came to join Rin at the foot of the bed.

“They’re very beautiful, Rin.”

“They’re very beautiful paperweights,” he replied jokingly, and Rei rolled his eyes.

“They’ll get dusty and smudged if you keep taking them out of the case,” he continued, back to lectures. “And you never hang it back up straight. You know I worked very hard to make sure they were in the optimum placement for viewing all around the room, which means all around the room there’s an optimum view of your crooked hanging!” He adjusted his glasses. “What must visitors think?”

“That your husband is an amazing Olympian who has seven medals, four of them gold.”

He smirked. Rei tried not to smile back and failed.

“That’s  _one_  thing.”

He took a step closer, his hand finding Rin’s, lacing their fingers together. “Remember this one?” He tapped one of the gold medals, featherlight.

“I remember you almost didn’t make it for that one.”

“Traffic was absolutely terrible! Even my carefully planned route didn’t help.”

“Because you slept through your alarm.”

Rei cleared his throat. “Well, I  _did_  make it.”

“In the very nick of time.” Rin laughed, remembering. “You almost caused some guy in the heat before me to false start, you yelled so loud.”

“I feel bad about that.” Rei shook his head. “I wanted you to know I made it.” Another reach for his glasses, and he smiled from beneath his hand. “It was romantic, don’t you think?”

Rin gave him the flattest look in his repertoire. “No. It almost gave me a heart attack. That’s not romance!”

Rei spluttered. “But I made it just in time to cheer you to victory! That’s Romance 101!”

“Yeah, yeah. My knight in shining armor. Always arriving right when I need you most.”

And if a hint of fondness entered his voice, it was only because there was a hint of truth. Rei always  _did_  arrive right when Rin needed him, since that day in the amusement park when they hadn’t even known each other’s names.

He cleared his throat, looked back at the medals. “Remember this?” He tapped one of the two silvers.

“I can’t forget. You were sick that day.”

“Not  _that_  sick.”

“Not yet, but you definitely were after! I had to hold a bucket for you to throw up in before the ceremony.”

“ _But_  I still won.” He grinned, cocky, flexed an arm that wasn’t as muscly as it used to be. “A silver is impressive for a dying man. And I  _didn’t_  die, thanks to very loving care after.” He kissed Rei’s cheek.

“Yes, well. That was  _my_  turn to almost have a heart attack.”

Rin laughed, and looked back over the medals. They were quiet a moment, then Rei asked, “Which one is your favorite?”

“Hard to say.” Rin rubbed his chin. “I think… this one.” A tap on one of the golds. “I broke the hundred meter butterfly record. Do you remember?”

“Yes, I do.” Rei smiled. “I’ll never forget that.”

Rin beamed. “So is it your favorite, too?”

“Hmm… no.”

Rin raised an eyebrow in confusion as Rei leaned past him and tapped the lone bronze. “Huh?  _That_  one?”

“Yes.” Rei smiled. “It’s definitely my favorite.”

“Why?”

“Because it was your first.” Rei got a faraway smile on his face. “You worked so hard for it. And when you won it, even if it wasn’t the gold you’d hoped for… you looked so happy. Yes, in that moment, you looked more beautiful than you did for any of the others.”

Rin gaped at him for a moment, a blush creeping up his cheeks. After a moment of silence, he pulled Rei in close for a gentle kiss. 

“ _How_ , after all this time, can you still make me blush like that?”

Rei smiled, now his turn to look cocky. “It’s easier than you think, Rin. I just have to be honest.”

And before Rin could even come up with a reply, he added, “Now, about the case. When you hang it back up-”

Rin pulled him down on the bed before he could finish.


End file.
